Central Board of Excise and Customs to soon notify new procedural framework

NEW DELHI: It’s a green light from Indian customs for the pre-run of the GST on June 23. Central Board of Excise and Customs will soon notify the new procedural framework for the country’s over $650-billion trade sector, which will be among the first to face tax regime change from July 1.

“We have already restructured the field force in line with the GST… Necessary systems are being put in place and we will start the dry run from June 23,” a senior government official, privy to the discussions on the matter, told press.

The official said a detailed directive would be issued soon for the field, explaining the rate schedule of the Integrated GST, which will be levied on imports.

IGST will be the sum of central GST and State GST levied on a local product and will be in addition to the basic customs duty. IGST replaces countervailing duty, the special additional duty levied in lieu of central excise.

Field officials have already been sounded out to ensure that traders do not face any glitches. I-GST on imports will be completely administered by the Centre’s customs officials.

Separately, changes to the forms in line with those announced by the director general of foreign trade (DGFT) as also others would be notified this week, the official said.

DGFT has already made permanent account number as the new Import Export Code or IEC, which will also facilitate migration to GSTIN (GS Tax Identification Number) that will be needed for payment of IGST or claiming refund or rebate.

GSTIN is a 15-digit alpha numeric code with PAN prefixed by State Code and suffixed by three-digit details of business verticals of the PAN holder.